After what seems like quite some time there is a new release of the best DTP software for Linux, see here the announcment and links to downloads.

Update 14/09/05:

Scribus 1.2.3 released. The announcment is here. This is mostly a bug fix release with a few minor enhancements based on the stable 1.2.x series of releases, so it won't have much of the whizzy stuff in the 1.3 technology preview. Of course, if you have found 1.3 to be stable neough for you to use, then this won't be of much interest

Last edited by Rhakios on Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Scribus is great. It has gone from a joke program in its early versions to something which is getting better every day. And I mean every day. The code base is now so solid that you can build from the nightly cvs and expect it to work without too much trouble: I have been using the cvs of the next development version, 1.3.0cvs, compiled onto a PCLinuxOS system, and it seems unbreakable, unlike some earlier versions (1.0 series) which were supposedly stable.

Apart from its use in orthodox DTP, Scribus can produce interactive PDF files, great for say, application forms to be completed and printed out. When I switched from Windows to Linux, the program I missed most of all was Serif Page Plus, not anymore.

PS if any non-programmers, but with an artistic bent, would like to help Scribus, why not design some templates and sent them to the authors to add to the existing ones? There are some you can download, but they are not all that, and to be honest, it's only good templates that will keep certain Windows DTP software one step ahead.

As you say, Rhakios, I can't get too excited because I am already using 1.3.1cvs. That said, I have to say that Scribus is probably the most exciting open-source project. With its increasingly cross-platform approach, it's dedicated team of programmers, docwriters and translators, and the constant stream of ideas from its users, it will soon be going where Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice have already ventured, bringing top-quality Open Source into the worlds of Windows and Mac.

Before I made the switch to Linux, one of my favourite Windoze programs was Serif Page Plus. Well Scribus will soon be knocking on the door at this end of the market, and at its rate of development, even the high end DTP stuff will soon be coming under threat.